'Lean' Techniques help Government Agency Transform Forms Processing
Restructuring Forms Processing in the Federal
Government
Client
1300 employee West Virginia-based paper and forms processing facility of a unit of the Federal
Government.
Issue
Transition from manual processing to digital processing of paper-based forms necessitated a radical restructuring of work assignments to satisfy client service demands and an operational plan to manage the transition workflow.
Newmarket's Role
Working with senior management, Newmarket, through its government contracting affiliate HGI, designed and implemented new shift structures to satisfy client demand while minimizing workforce disruption of the staff of 1300. In a subsequent phase, Newmarket designed and implemented operational policies and procedures to manage the restructuring and workflow transition and led management teams through the change process.
Implementation
- Change management: Clarified / prioritized organizational objectives. Developed and analyzed alternative personnel and equipment utilization schemes. Identified operational transition risks and developed contingency plans. Developed and implemented new shift structures, shift assignments, and seating assignments.
- Performance measurement: Developed detailed process flows to capture inventory statistics and allow proactive backlog management. Proposed performance measurement systems for multiple processes and levels of management.
- Teamwork facilitation: Managed cross-functional and cross-shift management teams. Developed and analyzed data structures to facilitate decision-making. Encouraged middle managers to evaluate unit impacts across the organization. Adapted level flow concepts to forms processing as an exercise to stimulate "out of the box thinking" and enhance understanding of forms processing as an integrated, interactive system.
Key Element: Change Management
By effective and creative application of industrial engineering and lean manufacturing approaches to a paper-based organization, Newmarket / HGI was able to offer management significant new insights into the forms processing operation. These insights proved invaluable to Newmarket and the management team in transition planning, backlog management, team building, and performance measurement throughout the division.
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